faded.

FIVE

ONIKA

: hey i'm about to be on my way

: what's your address?

bey 💨: just meet me at the chipotle

: i can come pick you up from your house

bey 💨: nah the chipotle is cool

: ... are you sure?

: i mean i really don't mind

bey 💨: i'm already walking so

bey 💨: i'll be at the chipotle in like 5ish minutes

: okay i'm on my way

Okay, now I really think she might be homeless. I'm not one to judge, so it's not like there's a problem with that, but maybe I could help.

I was already in my car when I texted her so I just started driving to the Chipotle. I guess this is our meeting place now.

When I got there, she was walking back and forth on the sidewalk and smoke was coming out of her mouth. Where did that come from? She wasn't even smoking anything, her hands were empty.

I think this might've been the first time I saw her in jeans. She was wearing straight leg black jeans and a nicer hoodie, from TSU, instead of her usual sweatpants or pajama pants.

I rolled my window down, "Bey!"

She stopped pacing and walked over to my car. "Hey."

I looked back to make sure so no cars were coming while she got in my car and drove off after she put her seatbelt on. Kelly's address was already in my cars GPS so I knew where I was going. "Where did that come from?"

"Where did what come from?"

"The smoke." I should've been more clear.

"Do you know what a pen is?"

"Yeah." Again, my friends. "So you were just using that out in the open?"

"What, is someone going to come out of nowhere, beat my ass, and tell me not to do drugs or something?"

"What about the police?"

"What about them? People smoke cigarettes and vape in public all the time."

"Do you vape too?" I'm just trying to get to know her better.

She laughed, "Hell no. I'm not doing anything that's not getting me high."

"Oh, that makes sense I guess. Do you want to play music?"

"Sure, just don't make fun of my music taste because I'm sensitive about it."

"Let's see what you play first. You can connect to the bluetooth. " I can't help myself if I do laugh if she plays something embarrassing.

She was already on her phone and it took a minute for a song to start playing. No Role Modelz came on and I chuckled. "I'm not surprised."

She looked over at me with a very offended look I could see in my peripheral vision. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"This just seems like someone you would listen
to. Is he your favorite artist?"

"He's aight."

"So who are your top five if you had to pick?"

"Easy. Future, Jhene Aiko, J. C-"

I laughed, "What happened to him just being aight?"

"Those two things can both be true, that was a
compliment. Who's your top five?"